Trash Incinerator Price May Get Cool Response

That`s what Broward County officials expect next week when they begin trying to persuade cities to participate in the county`s proposed trash-to-energy program.

The incinerators will burn garbage to produce electricity, which is to be sold at market rates. But the technology is expensive, and the average family that now pays $50 a year for trash fees will pay $90 a year -- an 80 percent increase.

According to county figures, the average household disposes of about two tons of garbage a year.

Tom Henderson, the project`s director, expects the cities will grumble about the cost, but probably will sign up anyway. They will have that opportunity after Tuesday, when the County Commission is expected to approve a contract.

``With a half-million households over 20 years, it seems like a lot of money,`` Henderson said. But it`s still a very economical service. It costs less to get rid of your garbage than it does to have a newspaper delivered to your house.``

The dumping fee at the two resource recovery plants -- one each in south and north Broward -- will be $35.70 per ton of garbage dumped in 1990. It also will cost $7 a ton to maintain a landfill that will be used when the plants aren`t operating or for heavy objects that can`t be easily burned.

Added to an estimated 75 cents per ton of garbage for administrative costs, that makes the per-ton total $43.45 per ton. Officials are rounding that off to $50 per ton as a contingency in case interest rates go way up.

``We don`t want people in 1990 to come back and say we were trying to mislead them,`` Henderson said. ``We aren`t trying to hide anything from the cities.``

Still, if environmental features are added to the plants -- Henderson and his staff have recommended against them while community groups are lobbying for them -- they could add another $12.50 per ton of garbage, adding up to $62.50 a ton.

A similar facility in Pinellas County costs $37.50 a ton. In other areas, the price is as high as $50.